Tray chest



Mavrch 28, "1?50 R, D, SULENTIC 2,501,879

TRAY CHEST Filed Aug. 19, 1948 Patented Mar. 28, 1950 TRAY CHEST`Rtwm'ond D. Sulentic, Waterloo,` Iowa, assignor to Waterloo Valve?Spring Compressor-Company, a

corporation of Iowa Application August 19, 1954s-, serial Ntgfispso*This invention relates to tray chests, and has for its principal objectto provide simple means for automatically moving the tray backward asthe lid is opened and forward as the lid is closed, and which permitsthe tray to be raised and lowered with the lid in opening and closing.This automatically gives access to the chest below the tray by merelyraising the lid and permits the lid and the tray to be raised to makethe chest wide open when desired.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the chest with the lid open and the traymoved back to afford access to the body of the chest beneath the tray;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a similar cross-section with the lid closed;

Fig. 4 is an end view showing diagrammatically an intermediate positionof the lid and tray; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the hinge -for the lid.

The body of the chest includes a front wall III, a back wall I I, endwalls I2, and a bottom I3.

The lid includes a front wall IA, a back wall I5. end walls I6, and atop I1.

The back wall I5 is hinged to the back wall I I of the chest body by apiano hinge IB, modified by notching the movable parts 20, as indicatedat 2 I, to provide a shoulder to strike the fixed parts 22 and therebyform a positive stop to limit the swinging movement of the lid withrespect to the chest, which is preferably on the order of 90 degreesfrom the position shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Fig. I2 andback again.

The end walls I2 are provided with transverse tray supports 24 alongtheir upper portions upon which the tray may rest. Those walls are alsooffset inwardly above the tray supports 24 to form extensions 25, andthe front Wall I0 is oifset inwardly to correspond and form an extension2E, with the result that the tray supports 24 and eX- l tensions 25 and28 form a tray seat open upwardly and rearwardly.

The tray includes a front wall 21, a back wall 28, end walls 29, and abottom 30, the corners betweenthe bottom and the front and back wallsbeing curved as indicated at 3l.

As will appear best in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the tray is somewhat narrowerfore and aft than the lidapproximately the height of the walls of thetray. Its normal closed position is forwardly shown in Fig. 3. Itsnormal open position is rearwardly shown in Fig. 2.

To automatically move the tray with the lid between the positionsindicated in the drawings,

2 claims. (ol. aia- 18er it isf connected to tlit'op' 'ofthe lid byhinges 32, here shown as riveted, respectively, to the top of the lid I1and the back wall 28 of the tray with the axes 33 adjacent t'o the upperedge of the back wall 28 of the tray and removed from the rear edge 34of the lid. Compare Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4.

With this arrangement, merely swinging the lid upwardly from itsposition shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Fig. '2 automaticallyshifts the tray backwardly to the position shown in Fig.

l. In d'oing so, the rear portion of the lid is rst raised, as indicateddiagrammatically in Fig. 4, while the whole tray is moved backwardly,and then the rear portion of the tray is brought down during the furtherbackward movement of the tray as a whole to the position shown in Fig.2.

In closing, the operation is reversed, and during both 'opening andclosing the front rounded corner 3| of the tray moves along the traysupports 24, land the tray is guided by the extensions 25 on the endwalls of the chest body.

When it is desired to have the chest wide open, the lid can be iirstmoved from the position shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Fig. 4,and then, by inserting the hand, the tray is swung upwardly and heldagainst the lid in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, inwhich position it will remain or may be held when the lid is fully open.

By providing limiting stops to prevent the lid from going much beyondupright position, shown in Fig. 2, the chest as a whole remainsbalanced, and there is no danger of its falling over backward, eventhough the tray is loaded heavily.

When the chest is made of sheet metal, the tray supports and extensions25 may be made by bending and folding the end wall sheets and extensions26 by bending and'folding the front wall sheet.

In the interest of clearness, locks, latches, and handles have beenomitted, but their use is contemplated, and is deemed obvious withoutdetailed illustration.

I claim:

1. In a chest, a chest body including front, back and end walls andtransverse tray supports dening a plane along the upper portions of theend walls and disposed at substantially right angles thereto, a lidhinged to the back wall in substantially the plane of said supports andincluding front, back and end walls corresponding to the walls of thechest body, a tray freely supported on the tray supports and includingfront, back and end walls, and a bottom of less dimensions front andback than the top of the lid, and a hinge connection between the top ofthe lid and the upper edge portion of the back wall of the tray, saidtray being free from the tray supports and capable of being turned onits hinge connection and folded towards the lid.

2. A chest of the character described, comprising a box body open at itstop and provided at opposite ends with inner horizontal ledges extendingfrom front to rear of the chest and dening a plane,'a tray having itsbottom freely supported on said ledges and slidable thereon, said traybeing of less width than the body from front to rear thereof, a lidhinged to the back of the body in substantially the plane of the ledgesand also hinged to the top edge portion of the back of the tray, saidtray4 being movable slidably along the ledges longitudinally of thelatter when the lid is swung on its hingev connection with the body ofthe chest, said tray also being free to be swung upon its hingeconnection with the lid out of supporting engagement with the ledges andtowards the lid when the lid is open.

RAYMOND D.SULENTIC;

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

- UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 475,617 Seward et al May 24,1892 1,586,319 Meyerson May 25, 1926 1,973,825 Pratt Sept. 18, 1934 l2,209,091 Piker July 23, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date158,782 Switzerland Feb. 16, 1933 1 '139,037 France Jan. 4, 1933

